THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Our mission is to provide Unitholders with a steady stream of income with sustainable long term growth derived from a portfolio of quality retail properties.

TRUST PERFORMANCE
CMT delivered distributable income of S$25.0 million to its Unitholders which equated to a distribution of 3.38 cents per unit for the period 16 July to 31 December 2002. This result exceeded the IPO forecast by 8.5%. Based on the IPO price of S$0.96, the annualised pre-tax distribution yield was 7.66%, compared to the IPO forecast of 7.06%.

NAV per unit increased from S$0.97 at IPO to S$1.03 as at 31 December 2002. This was boosted by the appreciation on revaluation of properties of 2.2 cents. After distribution to the Unitholders, the NAV per unit will be S$1.00.

CMT maintained a portfolio committed occupancy rate of close to 100% throughout 2002. As at 31 December 2002, it was 99.8%.

Net property income for the three properties - Tampines Mall, Junction 8 and Funan The IT Mall - exceeded the IPO forecast by 5.2%. All three properties contributed positively, exceeding the IPO forecast by between 4.3% and 7.0%.

This result was achieved on the back of higher renewal rents. During 2002, we renewed 175 leases at an average increase of 25.1% over preceding rents and 8.9% above the IPO forecast rental. We also collected S$1.3 million in turnover rent from almost half of the tenants in the CMT portfolio.

Property expenses were kept below the IPO forecasts, despite the implementation of a number of customer initiatives at the CMT malls.

CMT kept its gearing below the 25.0% cap currently stipulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. As at 31 December 2002, gearing was 20.2%. Interest cover ratio was 8.4 times, which strongly reflects CMT’s ability to pay interest costs from its operating cashflows.

In October 2002, CMT received a strong corporate credit rating of ‘A-’ by Standard and Poor’s, making it the first listed Singapore real estate equity to be rated. The rating was awarded in recognition of the strength of CMT’s quality property portfolio and its conservative financing policy. This was supported by the malls' diverse tenant mix, the Manager's active management of maturing leases and its prudent growth strategy, and CMT’s continuous modest debt usage.